Movement for wrist watches



May 19, 1942. s KATZ MOVEMENT FOR WRIST WATCHES Filed Nov. 22, 1940 INVENTOR. W J BY TTORNEYJ Patented May 19, 1942 UNHTED STATES PATENT OFFICE MOVEMENT FOR WRIST WATCHES Benjamin S. Katz, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to The Gruen Watch Company, Time Hill, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application November 22, 1940, Serial No. 366,570

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a watch movement particularly adapted for use in a wrist watch. In fact, the utility of the invention may be considered as closely limited to this particular field.

As the term movement is used in this application, it embraces the combination of an upper plate and lower plate assembly for supporting the wheels or moving parts of the watch and may or may not include the wheels themselves. In other words, the term may embrace the whole of the watch exclusive of the dial, hands, bezel, crystal and case, or it may apply only to the combination of the wheel supporting plates. The term upper plate, as used throughout this application, refers to that plate which is normally positioned upward when the watch is in reading position, or in other words, the plate which supports the dial. The term lower plate assembly refers to the plates which are normally positioned against that portion of the case which is adjacent the wrist of the wearer. In the terminology of the watch making industry the meaning of these two latter terms, as defined in this application, is frequently the exact reverse; that is, the dial supporting plate is termed the rangement of working parts of the watch is in no way changed and no elements of strength and resulting accuracy are scarificed.

One of the objects of the present invention, therefore, has been to provide a wrist watch movement in which a greater degree of thinness is provided at the extremities than has heretofore been possible in any movement which has a lower plate or plate assembly curved to conform to the curve of the wrist.

Another object of the invention has been to provide a movement in which a completely convex configuration of the upper surface of the movement is combined with an arcuate configuration of the lower surface of the movement substantially corresponding to the arc of the upper side of the human wrist.

Another object of the invention has been to provide a movement so configurated that when lower plate and the plate assembly adjacent the portion of the case contacting the wrist is termed the upper plate or plate assembly.

The invention of this application may be considered in the nature of an improvement on the invention disclosed in United States patent to Henri Thiebaud, No. 2,194,452, issued March 19, 1940. However, the present invention is considerably more restricted than that of the Thiebaud patent in that it is limited entirely to the movement alone and is likewise limited to a movement useful only in wrist watches.

It is the general concept of the present invention that a configuration of the upper surface of the movement, in which the surface progresses symmetrically outwardly and downwardly in all directions from a point at the axis of the hands toward a feathered edge at the extremity, as disclosed in the Thi-ebaud patent, can be most effectively combined with a configuration of the lower surface of the movement that is arcuate, in substantial conformity to the arc of the upper surface of the wrist of the wearer of the watch. Utilizing this movement, a completed watch can be constructed in which the outlines of the case so nearly coincide with the outlines of the conventional wrist watch strap or bracelet that there is scarcely a perceptible difference in thickness between the watch itself and the strap or bracelet which supports it. With all this, the araffixed in an appropriate case it may be positioned on the wrist of the wearer so as to be almost completely unobtrusive to the shocks and jars to which a wrist watch is conventionally subjected.

' Another object of the invention has been to provide a movement having the advantages herein described without a rearrangement of the working'parts of the watch and without any reduction in size and corresponding sacrifice in strength of the parts.

Another object of the invention has been to provide a movement in which an extreme degree of thinness is realized by curving the upper surface outwardly and downwardly in all directions from a central point while at the same time the movement is strengthened by the addition of extra bulk and weight to the lower surface, this bulk and weight being distributed and arranged so as to provide elevated areas at the ends of the assembly of plates on the lower surface of the movement.

Other and further objects will be apparent Figure 4 is an enlarged plan view of the back of the movement shown in outline.

Figure 5 is an enlarged top plan view of the actual movement.

Figure 6 is a greatly enlarged sectional View taken on line 6-6 of Figure 5 showing the gear train in some detail.

Figure 7 is a top plan view of a watch embodying the movement of the invention.

Figure 8 is a side elevation of the watch shown in Figure 7, illustrating the strap curved to approximate a wrist attaching position.

The movement, as shown in Figure 1, comprises an upper plate In and a lower plate assembly which, in the preferred construction illustrated, actually includes three separate plates or bridges; the entire assembly being designated generally as H. The movement as a whole is indicated generally at H2. The upper surface 13 of the upper plate It] is so configurated that it recedes symmetrically outwardly and downwardly in all directions from a point coincident with the axis of the hands. In other words, this surface is purely convex. The lower plate assembly has an arcuate configuration designed to conform substantially to the upper surface of the wrist of a wearer of the watch.

Figure 2, showing an end view of the movement in outline further illustrates the configuration of the plate surfaces and it will be noted that the convexity of the upper surface is just as apparent in this figure as it is in Figure 1, while the arcuate configuration of the lower surface is obscured by the end of the movement and is indicated only by the dotted line H.

In Figures 3 and 4 the exact nature of the configuration of the outer surfaces of the plates is more clearly shown than in Figures 1 and 2. The invention is not limited to a curvature of the upper surface of the upper plate exactly as shown in Figure 3. This configuration may be in the nature of a dome, a symmetrically stepped construction resembling a pyramid, a truncated pyramid, a series of cone sections of decreasing slope, a flattened dome, or any other configuration coming within the limits of the invention. The configuration of the lower surface of the lower plate need not correspond exactly to that shown in Figure 4. but should correspond, generally, to the arc of the upper surface of the wrist.

Figures 5 and 6 illustrate the arrangement of parts in the movement of the invention, a portion only being visible in Figure 5. In these figures the main spring barrel is illustrated at IT. The great wheel I 8, made integrally with the barrel, meshes with a center pinion IS on the center arbor which carries the minute hand. The center wheel, shown at 20, is formed with the center pinion and revolves with it. The center wheel meshes with a third-wheel pinion 2| to rotate the third wheel 22 of the train. The third wheel is meshed with a fourth-wheel pinion 23 formed integrally with a fourth wheel 24. The arbor 25 of the fourth wheel 23 may be projected through the upper plate to carry a second hand. A conventional cannon pinion. 26 formed with the center arbor meshes with a minute wheel (not shown) made integrally with a pinion 28. The pinion 28 is meshed with the usual hour Wheel 29 which carries the hour hand. The fourth wheel also drives the escape pinion and wheel of the balance mechanism, indicated at 30. A conventional winding and setting mechanism, indicated at 3|, is provided and, as shown in Figure 5, is installed in the usual manner. The proportions and relationships of the wheels and number of teeth required for each gear wheel is well understood by those skilled in the watchmaking art and, therefore, a further description of them is unnecessary.

From the above, it can be seen that there is nothing novel in the nature or arrangement of these parts. The figures are intended merely to illustrate the fact that conventional parts in a conventional relationship may be encased in a movement of the unusual type which is disclosed here.

In Figures '7 and 8 there is illustrated a watch in which the movement of the invention has been installed. The movement itself is, of course, not visible in these figures. Figure 8, particu larly, illustrates the extreme degree of thinness that can be realized in a completed watch embodying the movement of the invention, and also illustrates, particularly, how closely the arcs of the under and upper surfaces of the watch will correspond with the arcs of the supporting strap when the latter is in approximately wrist encircling position.

In the preferred construction of the invention the upper plate attains the desired degree of thinness at its edges which, as previously stated, recede in all directions to an approximate feathered edge at the extremity. The lower plate assembly is provided with elevated areas at opposed points on the outer edge thereof as best illustrated in Figure 4. These elevated areas are joined by an inward arcuate curved surface. The lower plate assembly is approximately as thin at its edge extremities as the feathered edge of the upper or dial supporting plate while the distance through the plate assembly at its central portion should be substantially less than the distance through the upper plate at its central point in order to provide a movement which has a mini mum overall height.

As an illustration of the degree of thinness that can be attained in a movement of the type of the invention, the movement illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 has been drawn to scale (although not to actual size) to illustrate a 9% ligne movement which is a standard commercial size. In this size movement, provided the principles of the present invention are utilized, the end and side thicknesses between the top angle or curve and the bottom angle of the movement may be approximately 1.85 millimeters in thickness as compared with a conventional thickness in an ordinary fiat movement of approximately 3.9 millimeters and a thickness in a movement of the type of the patent to Frey, Reissue 20,480 of August 24, 1937 of approximately 2.51 millimeters.

The improvements and. commercial advantages resulting from the invention include the possibility for the provision of a watch which conforms almost exactly to the configuration of the upper surface of the wrist but still protrudes only very slightly from the wrist and resultantly is much less subject to shocks and blows. The watch fits so snugly on the wrist that it is much less likely to come in contact with or catch on the sleeve of a shirt or coat. Likewise it may be made considerably lighter than a curved wrist watch of the type disclosed in the aforesaid Frey patent and for this reason will be more comfortable. The general improvement in styling greatly enhances the appearance of the watch.

Having fully described my invention I desire to be limited only by the ensuing claim:

A wrist watch movement comprising, a plurality of plates joined together and adapted to support the working parts of the watch, one of said plates constituting a dial supporting plate and having an outer surface which curves out- Wardly and downwardly in all directions from a central point to an approximate feathered edge at the outer extremities of the, plate, the remaining plates forming an assembly, the intermediate portion of which has an arcuate outer.

10 plate.

'BENJAMIN S. KATZ. 

